Phagocytosis News and Research

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Research suggests that immunity is stronger at night

The immune system's battle against invading bacteria reaches its peak activity at night and is lowest during the day.

14 Dec 2008

Xencor presents data on anti-CD19 and anti-CD40 antibodies

Xencor, Inc. presented results Sunday at the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology from pre-clinical studies evaluating XmAb 5574, a monoclonal antibody engineered using Xencor's XmAb Fc technologies that targets the antigen CD19.

10 Dec 2008

Proteomics provides clues to how tuberculosis thwarts the immune system

A link between the immune system and the self-cleaning system by which biological cells rid themselves of obsolete or toxic parts may one day yield new weapons in the fight against tuberculosis and other deadly infectious diseases.

6 Nov 2008

Multiple sclerosis patients have higher spinal fluid levels of suspicious immune molecule

A protein that helps keep immune cells quiet is more abundant in the spinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), further boosting suspicion that the protein, TREM-2, may be an important contributor to the disease.

29 Sep 2008

Turning off rogue macrophages

University of Pennsylvania scientists studying macrophages, the biological cells that spring from white blood cells to eat and destroy foreign or dying cells, have discovered how these "policemen" differentiate between friend and foe.

12 Mar 2008

Direct pathways between extracellular material and cell nuclei discovered

A team of Brooklyn College researchers has shattered a long-held belief that no direct pathway exists between material outside of a cell and the cell nucleus.

13 Aug 2007

Neuroprotectin D1 protects retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells

Two papers to be published in the Early Edition online of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) the week of July 30-August 3, 2007 report findings that demonstrate that neuroprotectin D1 (NPD1) protects against damage to retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells and identifies an important trigger for its production and novel molecular mechanisms that support vision.

1 Aug 2007

Researchers increase in vivo lifetime of nanoparticles

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara have discovered that attaching polymeric nanoparticles to the surface of red blood cells dramatically increases the in vivo lifetime of the nanoparticles.

29 Jun 2007

Polymeric nanoparticles show potential as new method for drug delivery

28 Jun 2007

Invertebrate immune systems are anything but simple

A hundred years since Russian microbiologist Elie Metschnikow first discovered the invertebrate immune system, scientists are only just beginning to understand its complexity.

23 Jun 2007

Researchers find protein associated with brain cell death

Neuroscientists at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have found evidence of which protein in the brain's immune cells triggers a cascade of reactions that produces unregulated free radical production that eventually leads to the neural cell death found in Alzheimer's disease.

19 Jul 2006

Phagocytosis depends more on particle shape than size

The research, which has far-reaching implications for immunology, vaccine development and drug delivery, is published today online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Samir Mitragotri, a UCSB professor of chemical engineering, and graduate student Julie A. Champion. The paper will be published in print on March 28.

23 Mar 2006

Findings could lead to a new approach in diagnosing and treating Alzheimer’s disease

The human body has its own defense against brain aging: the innate immune system, which helps to clean the brain of amyloid-beta waste products. However, UCLA researchers discovered that some patients with Alzheimer’s disease have an immune defect making it difficult to clean away these wastes.

From MP Biomedicals, LLC 10 Jun 2005

Process for disposal of dying neutrophils actively linked to neutrophil production

New research identifies a critical inhibitory step that is a key component of the feedback circuit regulating the balance between neutrophil production and destruction.

23 Mar 2005

Scientists examine the role of small sputum macrophages in the widespread disease chronic obstructive bronchitis

COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is one of the most common fatal diseases worldwide. In Germany alone, there are about 3-5 million patients affected. COPD includes both chronic obstructive bronchitis and emphysema. Both represent irreversible changes of the central and lower respiratory tract which are accompanied by coughing, mucus production and difficulty in breathing.

10 Jan 2005

First generation of human retinal cells in the laboratory from human embryonic stem cells

Some of these retinal tissues such as Retinal Pigment Epithelium (RPE) may provide a novel therapeutic strategy for such devastating diseases as macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, and other retinal degenerative diseases.

23 Sep 2004